MailChimp

Where do I access this in Checkfront? You can access the MailChimp add-on from the main menu at Manage > Add-ons

Using the MailChimp Add-on With Checkfront

If you are an existing MailChimp user, or are looking for a good email campaign manger, you can now directly integrate MailChimp with your Checkfront account.

MailChimp is email marketing service that lets you design, send, and track HTML email campaigns with a simple set of tools. MailChimp offers a free account if you manage a list of less than 1,000 users and send less that 6000 emails a month.

Once configured and enabled, customers will be asked if they’d like to subscribe to your newsletter or mail list at the time of booking. When a booking is made and the user opts-in via the booking form, Checkfront will automatically subscribe them to the specified list in your MailChimp account.

To use this extension, you need a valid MailChimp account and an API key.

How to Locate Your MailChimp API Key

First you need to log into your MailChimp account. After you have successfully logged in, you will need to locate your API key within your account details section. These screenshots may differ in the event that MailChimp revises their website.

1. Click on your account name in the menu bar.

2. Select Account from the drop-down menu.

3. Click on the Extras menu.

4. Choose API Keys from the drop-down menu.

From this screen, you will now generate an API key.

5. Click on the Create a Key button.

6. Copy the new key to your clipboard, as you will need it a bit later during the Checkfront part of the configuration. It’s okay if you have more than one API key in your Mailchimp account. You may have different keys for different applications.

Create Your MailChimp List

In order to synchronize your Checkfront customers with MailChimp, you will need to create a new mailing list from within your MailChimp account.

1. Click on Lists in the top menu bar.

2. Click on the Create List button, over on the right.

After creating your new list, or if you already have one in place, it will be visible directly underneath, as shown by the red arrow below.

Activate The MailChimp Add-on

1. Log into your Checkfront account, navigate to Manage > Add-ons and look for the MailChimp extension among the other Checkfront add-on tiles.

2. Hover your mouse over the MailChimp tile and click on the setup link as shown below.

3. In the pop-up window, paste in the API Key you created earlier.

4. Enter the opt-in label you would like to appear on your booking form.

5. Check the box below if you would like to activate the double opt-in option. This requires the user to click on the link in a verification email to confirm their opt-in to the list. This will help cut down on SPAM email addresses. The contents of the email can be edited within the MailChimp interface.

6. Click Activate to complete.

Welcome Email:

It’s possible to activate a welcome email that will be sent to your customers on signup verification. Due to an API change by MailChimp, it is no longer possible to activate this feature through the Checkfront setup window.

Please refer to the support document at MailChimp for instructions on how to enable/disable the welcome email.

You’ll now be presented with another pop-up window. This time, you’ll be able to select a mailing list from within your MailChimp account. If you only have one list, it will be selected for you automatically. The number in brackets shows the number of email addresses that are already assigned to the list.

Finally, you must map the merge tags between your booking form at Checkfront and the mailing list at MailChimp. The list of fields you see in the pop-up window are from your Checkfront account. Click on one of these to pull up a drop-down menu of fields from MailChimp. When you’ve completed the mapping, click Update.

In the example below, the MailChimp Name field has been merged with the First Name field in Checkfront.

That’s it! The MailChimp extension is now ready to be used. A new field will be added to the end of your booking form and if checked, the customer’s email address will be added to your MailChimp database once they have completed their booking.

Sync Your Customer Details

To ensure that the name and email addresses of your customers sync to your MailChimp account properly, the two booking form system fields for the name and email address of your customers must be active.